The present invention relates generally to manually-propelled, personal watercraft devices and, more particularly, to mechanisms for propelling personal watercraft devices.
It is well known that a user can propel a watercraft using a hand-held paddle or fin. For example, in a canoe, the user holds a fin or paddle in his hands and, with in a well-known rowing motion, propels the canoe in the desired direction by creating water resistance against the paddle by drawing the paddle through the water with the blade disposed substantially perpendicular to the direction of travel.
However, propelling watercraft with hand-held fins or paddles has several disadvantages. For example, a user can drop or loose a fin or paddle because it is not properly secured to the watercraft; propulsion using hand-held fins or paddles can be inefficient if the user lacks a certain degree of skill because, with such devices, users must control the rowing or stroking motions themselves with simultaneously alternating hand and arm movement, wherein a user may fail to use the proper stroke technique and thereby fail to substantially maximize the efficiency of the propulsion forces caused by the fin or paddle. Further, devices using hand-held fins or paddles are limited to propulsion by hand and arm movement and cannot be easily retrofitted for leg propulsion.